Sunday, March 22, 2020

Cabo Home and Coronavirus


(A partially finished half bath)

Many of you know we headed down to Cabo last week to 
crack the whip on the construction of our never-ending 
build in Cabo.  We had decided that we could self-isolate 
there, since there was no presence of Coronavirus in 
lower Baja Mexico.  

We packed our bags with the intent to stay two to four 
weeks as they finished up construction. 


We were some of the handful of people who wore 
masks on the way down.  Someone needs to work 
with hubby on proper use of mask while sleeping!!


We had warned them in January that we would be bringing 
a group of 4 down this week for my son's Spring Break. 
We asked that they have two bedrooms and baths ready.  
But knowing how things go, we decided to also book a room 
at Villa La Estancia, where we have stayed during 
the construction process. 


That way we could continue to enjoy pools and their 
incredible shrimp nachos at the pool. 


As we had suspected, the house was nowhere near ready 
to stay at, although they had two bedrooms and baths 
that we could have stayed in, but there wasn't glass 
in the front door - haha - didn't feel that comfortable 
to be staying in a house that was wide open. 


My son and his wife weren't able to make it, but we had 
great friends who had volunteered to drive our 15 passenger 
van down the Baja, filled with household goods.  

This will be our last in-restaurant dining for a while, so 
we had to get our picture taken. 


Everything was business as usual at Cabo, with some cancellations, 
and definitely not as busy as Spring Break would usually feel.

We enjoyed the sun and water, food and pools, 
but you may have heard that our area experienced 
a 5.7 earthquake on Wednesday morning.  Their teenage 
daughter was at home with his brother and wife, but 
that kind of freaked her out.  They decided to go 
home a day early.  The airport was closed half a day 
because of broken water pipes.  If Coronavirus fears weren't 
enough, the earthquake made people tremble even more. 
False rumors were started that a 9.0 would follow within 
30 minutes!!  All was well at home.  My daughter went to 
check and a decorative metal platter had fallen off of 
the pizza oven, but that was about all.  

Meanwhile, my daughter got laid off that day, and so 
did my niece - both working in restaurants. 


Despite all of this, we felt comfortable with our decision to stay awhile 
and keep people finishing up the house - also making critical 
design decisions.  


The people in Cabo also told us to stay - that we were safer down 
there, where there was no Coronavirus.


So, on a daily basis we saw things progress - like this outdoor shower,


and this saying put up down by the lower pool,


and furniture being unpacked.  The original plan was for the kids 
and their kids to come down April 6th for their Spring Break, 
although at this point, we doubted that would be happening.


On the second day we noticed a cruise ship pull into the bay.  
We wondered at that and finally found an article about it.  
It is a Holland America ship.  There are not enough places for 
cruise ships to dock, so they had received permission from Cabo 
to anchor their boat.  There are 800 crew members living onboard.  
Had you thought about what happened to crew members when 
the cruise lines stopped?  They can't afford to fly home and are 
under contract, so they are living on the ships, wherever they 
could dock or anchor.  

Our friends decided to fly home on Thursday, as their daughter 
wanted them home.  


We had originally planned this trip for our college son's Spring Break 
from Monday to Saturday, but right before dinner Friday night 
we decided to see if there would be flights home a week later.  If we 
stayed one more week we could get a lot of things wrapped up on 
the house.  There was a pretty full flight, so we thought we wouldn't 
get trapped in Cabo like so many had in Europe.  We booked the 
flight and booked another week at the resort.  Off to dinner we went. 

As we were eating, the waiter asked when we were leaving.  Then he 
told us that the resorts and restaurants were all shutting down 
on Monday since the border was closing Saturday.  
We had followed 
that story, but it was the land border that 
was closing and Delta showed pretty full flights 
leaving the next weekend.  


These pictures are from a happier dinner, earlier 
in the week,  because as we heard that,
hubby left to go back to the room 
to try and change our flights back to the following day
 - Saturday.  He never returned to the table, so I 
had them box up our main dishes.  We had both 
kind of lost our appetites.

Saturday morning we went to the house a final time
 with staples that we had purchased for a long stay. 
 As we drove through the town, there were no tourists left.
  The rental car companies had their parking lots spilling
onto the streets. 

The airport was packed and people everywhere now
 were wearing masks.  
(Hubby wore his correctly on the way home - just a little 
humor to deal with the stress!) 

Arriving in the Salt Lake City 
airport was like being in an apocalyptic movie - 
the roads were 
empty and tons of planes were parked out on the tarmac.  

My heart hurt so badly for the Mexican people we left behind.  
They have so little and their incomes depend on the tourist 
industry, and literally overnight the city was emptied.  


This rock down on the beach below our house has always looked 
like a turtle (I didn't show the turtle's shell) or a lop-eared bunny, 
but this time we could see Ariel - in a tribute to the closed Disney parks. So much is changing so quickly, and without much 
notice.  We have no idea how our income will be 
impacted, and those of our children.  One daughter has 
already been laid off. 

We don't have to self quarantine, but we decided that since 
we were around so many passengers on the plane, we would 
stay away from people for awhile.  

My children with kids home from school are doing their 
best with homework and boredom.  The weather hasn't been 
great, so even though they could play outside, it hasn't been 
nice enough to.  We have decided no family dinners for
the next while.  We truly want everyone to isolate.

We have plenty of food and supplies with the exception of 
antiseptic wipes, but I got on YouTube and saw how to 
make those with a bleach solution and baby wipes or paper towels.  


You already know I love to cook, so that is enjoyable, but 
I will probably gain weight over this!  Haha.

Hubby is able to do his Bishop interviews over Facetime.  We 
can talk to the grandkids over Facetime too.  

How are you coping in this time unlike any we have seen?

We hope you are all well and stay safe.  Our business 
acquaintances in China said they learned to stay 
inside for 30 days and if you had to go out - keep 
your face covered.   

I will be posting with
and 





Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

8 comments:

  1. Glad you got enjoy that view for a short while! Hang in there.

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  2. Wow, what a story! I am glad you are home safe and sound. The consequences of this virus is far reaching. I can't imagine those 800 crew members fear.
    Your Cabo home looks fabulous and I know you yearn for normalcy so you can get it finished and enjoy it. Blessings to you and your family during these hard times.

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  3. Wow Jackie, the house looks amazing! So relieved you are home. We are living day to day now. Stay safe and thanks for sharing your Cabo home that will be fabulous when finished.

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  4. I'm so grateful you were able to get some relaxation time with friends and all in the sun and warmth before returning to the real world -- and terribly glad you were able to get back. That's quite the story. Just think how lovely it will be when you can return. It will be just gorgeous.

    We're under governor's Shelter at Home orders. She waited as long as possible because in doing so it closed ALL businesses apart from essential services -- groceries, medical, food delivery/take out, etc., and she wanted to prevent additional unemployment as long as possible. But it has become necessary. I'm in the high-risk group so happy to see it, though I know it is a tremendous challenge for so many. I hope you and your family will be safe and stay well.

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  5. It's nice you and hubby were able to go for awhile and see to important finishing touches on your house. With all that's going on I suspect you were happy to finally get home safe an sound. We are staying in as requested by state and visiting with family by FaceTime. Such a troubling time, stay well Jackie........

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  6. I am sure you are feeling better being home, close to family. BUT, it must have been difficult leaving behind your beautiful Cabo home. This too shall pass, and hopefully soon! Stay well!

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  7. I know your house is going to be gorgeous, and wow, you had it perfectly planned to be there for the final finishing decisions and then just like that the world turns upside down with the Corona Virus and Utah has an earthquake!! Yikes, I'm so glad you were able to make it home, I was so worried about you! Hopefully, you will be able to reunite with family and can all go to Cabo for the grand opening!
    Jenna

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  8. Love from me Ria ❤️💋🙏

    ReplyDelete

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